Stephensons Solicitors LLP has cemented it’s commitment to serving clients in Wigan by taking on additional office space at Wigan Investment Centre.

The move is part of a 12-month programme of office upgrades across the firm’s 10 offices, which will involve several office relocations and upgrades to existing offices. The top 150 law firm (according to The Lawyer Top 200 in 2013) is making the investment in its premises following a period of extensive growth and research into how customers are accessing legal services.

The national law firm has moved all staff based at 10-14 Library Street, Wigan, and some teams from Union Street in Leigh, into new office space at the Investment Centre, making it the firm’s largest office in terms of staff numbers with 170 staff now based there. Stephensons will remain in the town centre however, with an office across the road at 7 Library Street to serve clients in the town centre.

The Personal Injury, Regulatory and Criminal Justice and Residential Conveyancing teams are in the process of moving to the Investment Centre. The firm has had an office at the Investment Centre for many years, home to the Regulatory and the Clinical Negligence departments as well as the Client Service Centre which takes all new client instructions.

Andrew Welch, Stephensons’ managing partner, said: “We are a major employer in the borough and we’re delighted to be reaffirming our commitment to Wigan by expanding into new office space at the Investment Centre. We are a growing law firm, our staff numbers have increased by almost 80 in the last year, and 190 of our staff, around 40% of our workforce, will now be based in Wigan.

“This is part of a programme to make our office space more suitable for the larger business we have become. We remain fully committed to keeping a presence in the towns where we have operated for almost 40 years, but we do want to ensure that wherever possible, we are working more closely together in more modern office space.

“Modern legal services are no longer accessed in the way they were five, even 10 years ago. We have never been a traditional law firm but our business model has included large, brightly branded High Street offices as well as out of town offices. By tailoring our resources to be fit for the modern world, we can offer our loyal staff a greater working environment and provide our clients and referrers with a high standard of meeting space when they come to visit us.”

Earlier this year the firm began the upgrade programme by relocating staff in Altrincham from a high street location to purpose-built offices at Grosvenor House in Altrincham. Later this year, the firm’s Manchester teams will move into new offices following the compulsory purchase of the firm’s existing Manchester office at City Wharf.

ENDS

Photo caption: Andrew Welch, Stephensons managing partner

Media information

Lianne Tracey, PR Manager

Stephensons Solicitors LLP

Email: lct@stephensons.co.uk